The film Put don’t want the world to see: Firebird, a gay love story about fighter pilots | World cema | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE FILM PUT DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE: FIREBIRD, A GAY LOVE STORY ABOUT FIGHTER PILOTS
• ‘FIREBIRD’ REVIEW: STEAMY GAY COLD WAR DRAMA RELLS RSIA’S PAST ATROCI
• ‘FIREBIRD’ CAPTUR FORBIDN GAY ROMANCE DURG THE COLD WAR

THE FILM PUT DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE: FIREBIRD, A GAY LOVE STORY ABOUT FIGHTER PILOTS

“Beg gay was a crimal offence. ” Rebane knew he was gay at the age of ne.

”Remarkably for a film wh such overtly gay ntent, several exterr scen were filmed Mosw. “After that, ” adds Prr, “there was a plat about beg ‘homosexual propaganda’. New gay film Firebird offers a fascatg sight to love agast the backdrop of war.

‘FIREBIRD’ REVIEW: STEAMY GAY COLD WAR DRAMA RELLS RSIA’S PAST ATROCI

Based on a memoir by Sergey Fetisov, the steamy Cold War drama honors this lost chapter of gay history wh a handsome renrg that only ocsnally stumbl unr the weight of historil accuracy.

There is an unniable tensn Firebird between s aspiratn to be a grty perd piece and s sire to be an exhibn of homoerotic beekkery, and I’m not sure the film’s director (Peeter Rebane) effectively signals to which si he’d prefer his dience to lean. The disproportnate foc that gay romance films have on whe, cisgenr, mcular leadg men is a symptom of larger issu the queer muny, and ’s time we started to curate a more reprentative non of LGBTQ+ films.

Also prent is the ‘homophobic gnt’, who mak a missn to ensure our lovebirds spend more time jail than they do each other's arms.

‘FIREBIRD’ CAPTUR FORBIDN GAY ROMANCE DURG THE COLD WAR

The film's very missn statement is to tail the life of Sergey Fetisov, who is played wonrfully here by Tom Prr, and Fetisov lived durg a time and a regime which the two-dimensnal homophob did exist. Firebird's 'other woman' character, Luisa, did exist, and further rearch to Firebird reveals that her and Sergey's relatnship was far more straed the origal script; effort has clearly been ma to make her character feel ls like a moralistic judgement on the ma relatnship and more like a real and nuanced the two-dimensnal homophobe character which hnts our pair throughout the film is ground by a sister post-creds scene, which didn't add nuance to the character per se, but grounds him as a metaphor for the ghoulish queerphobic vlence which still plagu ex-soviet stat today. And while wtern gay media mt make an effort to tell more tersectnal queer narrativ, there is an unniable value to pictg the stori of gay men the untri nsirg they’re currently beg round up to ncentratn mps.

Its sweepg plot and ary backdrop give a flavour and athetic not dissiar to the romanc of classic Hollywood, and I'm lookg forward to re-watchg the uple navigate the prsur of anti-gay society. Una mujer sfigurada, un epilépti y un homosexual mválido parten un piso mientras se enentan. Una historia amor heterosexual en un mundo gay.